Improvement in lock-stoppers for demijohns and bottles



H. R. GILLINGHAM. Stopper for Demijohn and Bottle.

Lock- Patented Nov. 4, 1879.

INVENTOR ATTORNEYS.

WITNESSESiM aw) N. PErERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D, O.

UNITED STATES PA'rEN-T. OFFICE.

HENRY R. GILLINGHAM, OF BALTIMORE, MARYDAND.

IMPROVEMENT lN LOCK-STOPPE'RS FOR DEMIJOHNS AND BOTTLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 221,228, dated November 4, 1879; application filed February 3, 1879.

to a demijohn, showing in section the screwconnection.

Fig. 2 is a side view in a plane at right angles to Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional view, showing the arrangement of the perforated plug. Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken in a vertical plane at right angles to Fig. 3, and showing the locked position of the stopper.

My invention relates to locking devices for demijohns, bottles, &c., designed to'prevent the wasteful, injurious, or unauthorized use of wines and liquors, and to provide greater security for poisons.

The invention consists in providing the. old

rotary plug-valve with a peculiar locking device specially adapted to a receptacle of this kind, as hereinafter fully described.

In the drawings, A represents a demijohn B, a metal head screwed upon the neck of the demijohn and then permanently fastened thereto by any suitable means, a gasket, h, of rubber being employed to make a tight joint.

In the upper portion of the metal head B is arranged, at right angles to the lineof discharge, the rotary plug valve 0, having a perforation, I), through the same, which may be turned either into or out of registration. with the neck of the demijohn.

For locking the demijohn, I form a notch, e, in the lower portion of the head, and two elongated lugs, c 0, upon the end of the rotary plug 0. Between these lugs, at the top, I pivot the lever d, which projects at the upper end to form a thumb-piece, and extends down to the notch e.

Near the middle of the lever d, I form a perforation, f, and in the lugs c c, at the same distance from the fulcrum, I form the perforations f f.

Now, when the lever 61 has its lower end resting in notch e, the perforations f and f register with each other, and the locking-bar of a padlock, g, is passed therethrough to prevent the deflection of said lever.

It will thus be seen that the padlock prevents the movement of the lever out of the notch, while the notch prevents the movement of the plug on its axis, which is necessary to bring its perforation or conduit into registration with the neck of the demijohn.

Now, I do not claim a rotary plug-valve, as appliedto a bottle or demijohn, nor do I claim, broadly, a hinged or pivoted piece for locking such rotary plug against axial movement, but only the specific devices shown, in which three bearing-points are secured for the locking-lever-one at the top, constituting the fulcrum, the other at f, near the middle, and the other at e at the lower end. This gives agreat degree of security, for it will be seen that if the fulcrum-pin of the lever be knocked out the lever will then have the padlock-bar as a fulcrum, and the position of this fulcrum is brought so close to the lower end that the lever cannot be deflected far enough to unseat its lower end from the notch by reason of the contact of the upper end of the lever with the rotary plug, the elongated lugs c 0 serving to prevent any lateral displacement.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- The metal head B, having notch e, the rotary plug (3, having perforation b, and elongated lugs c c, with perforations f f, and the lock-lever d, pivoted to the upper portion of the lugs, and having a perforation, f, adapted to register with the perforations f of the lugs whenever its lower end is seated in notch c, all combined to form a lock-stopper for a demijohn or bottle, substantially as shown and described.

HENRY R. GIL'LINGHAM.

Witnesses S0L0N (J. KEMON, JAMES H. GRIDLEY. 

